Development of a scale to measure gamer experiences in sport video games

The aim of this study is to develop a scale to measure gamer experiences in sport video games. A two-phase data analysis was conducted with 400 respondents randomly assigned to one of two phases. In each phase, respondents were tasked to play a sports car racing game and complete a survey instrument. The study identified six dimensions of sports video games based on gamer experience. These are Challenge, Competence, Flow, Immersion, Enjoyment and Negative Affect. Using this scale, it will be possible to examine differences in gamer experience across sports video games. More importantly, it will be possible to examine the relationship between gamer experience and sponsorship effectiveness in future studies using this scale

Sponsorship and advertising in sport: a study of consumers' attitude

Research question: Advertising has been considered a less efficient vehicle of marketing communication. One recent study refuted that unlike traditional adverting mediums, consumers' attitude towards advertising was rather favourable in sport. This study compared consumers’ attitudes between advertising and sponsorship in sport and examined the antecedents (beliefs) and consequence (purchase intentions) of attitude in advertising and sponsorship. Research methods: Data were collected from 324 consumers. For testing of psychometric properties of the measures, a confirmatory factor analysis and a multiple invariance test were employed. A paired t-test, structural equation modeling, and invariance tests were conducted to test the research hypotheses. Results and Findings: There was no significant difference in consumers’ attitudes between advertising and sponsorship which were both deemed favourable. The path analyses revealed two positive beliefs (product information and hedonism/pleasure) and one negative belief (falsity/no sense) as significant predictors of attitude in both models. Good for the economy was an additional significant predictor of attitude in advertising but it was not so in sponsorship. The strengths of the three path coefficients were statistically identical across the two models. Attitude was a significant indicator of purchase intentions in both models; however, the invariance test revealed that the path in adverting was statistically stronger than that in sponsorship. Implications: This study provides important knowledge about consumers’ cognitive structures that could explain their decision making processes. Sport marketers could develop their promotion strategies more successfully, conveying their intent in a manner consistent with positive beliefs and avoiding activating negative beliefs

Applicability of belief measures for advertising to sponsorship in sport

Purpose - While advertising and sponsorship are conceptually different, many studies have usedthe same measures for both constructs. The assumption is that respondents perceive both domains similarly. The purpose of this study was to test the invariance of the belief measures between the advertising and sponsorship measurement models across different consumer segments and to provide empirical justification for the practice. Design/methodology/approach – Two independent samples were recruited from two different consumer segments: university student consumers (n = 290) and general consumers (n = 324). This study conducted multigroup invariance tests using LISREL 8.80. The measurement and structural invariances were concerned with factor loadings (λ), factor variance and covariance (φ), and error variance (θ) metrics. Findings – The factor patterns of the belief model were generally invariant between the adverting and sponsorship models in both consumer groups. However, the respondents interpreted three items between advertising and sponsorship in different ways: one annoyance/irritation item in the generic consumer group and two falsity/no sense items in the student consumer groups. Originality/value – While the invariance test reveals three problematic items, the majority of items seems to be invariant, concluding that the advertising belief scale could be applicable to the sponsorship context

Differences between gamblers and non-gamblers on sports betting websites

Online sports gambling is a popular recreational activity. Using the Theory of Planned Behaviour as the theoretical foundation, the aim of this study was to examine for differences between gamblers and non-gamblers in terms of their attitudes, subjective norms and perceived behavioral control towards online sports gambling. 173 male students from a tertiary educational institution were recruited for this study of which 56 respondents (32%) were gamblers. A series of regression analysis revealed differences between gamblers and non-gamblers. While subjective norms and perceived behavioural control were significant predictors of gambling intentions for the gamblers group, only attitude was a significant predictor for the non-gamblers group. Further analysis showed that subjective norms had a larger effect on the gamblers group in comparison to the non-gamblers group. Physiological data from an eye tracker provided further empirical evidence that there were differences between gamblers and non-gamblers. Gamblers, perhaps because they are more familiar with gambling websites, take less time to process information. The findings from this study suggests that there are differences between gamblers and non-gamblers. To prevent problem gambling, there is a need to develop different communication messages for gamblers and non-gamblers

Managing sport and leisure in the era of Covid-19

Managing sport and leisure in the era of Covid-1